The Brookhaven leader., 1887-08-18
CROWNER'S QUEST.


The Efforts off Coroner and an IntcIIi-
GENT Jury to Discover the Cause Of the
Reccrjt hallway Disaster Suspicious Cir
cumstances leading t"s Theory ofTrain-
wreckIng.
CHAfswoRTH, ILL.,, Aug. IA ctT"ner's
Jury of e1certinnal intelligence, with POST
master W. w. Sears as foreman, entered
Yesterday upon the task of eH3csvoring 10
discover whet her the catastrophe Of IEyr@-
day morning was due to accident or de-
sign, Horrible and incredible as the latter
theory NAV seem nt first. it is nevertheless
ttue that it has many supporters among
the re5iHc-is r. Fhatsworth. and II IS also
upheld bv some ri 'he reading officials OF
the road, Certain il Is, howeeer, that the
evidence taken yesterday poi:''ed more
strongly to the probabilities that Irai"
wreckers were at the bottom Of the horror
than to the original idea that the bridge
over the culvert had been set on ire by the
burning grass beneath.
In the preliminary testimony yesterday
morning the fact was developed that in
-r Ter to insure the safety of the train,
which was tho heariest that had ever gone
over the road. ortie.e had been issued to
the foremen of the varIoG7 Sections t.
and culverts on Wednesday afternoon.
That portion of the road on which the ac-
cident occurred was in charge of Timothy
Cough1in and what be told the jury was
htief end To the point. He had gone over
the road and ex3u'ired the bridge over the
cuIvert of death witkin half dozen
hours of midnight on Wehhes-
dav. He found it Iii good
condition. There were no signs Of fire. in
fact there was nothing to burn. The fields
all around had been recently moved, and
so longer than n week ago all the grass
around the cuivert bad been burnt right
into the soil on purpose to ehsur" the
safety of the timbers and the track Which
rested upon them.
Roadmaster Ennis, who went over the
trestle on a hand-car later in the evening,
svore that it was sound and strong.
Then William HelIam, a well-to-dp
farmer living in the neighbUrhoOd. was
called to the stand and told story that
created seEsatiou. He said that while
standing on the platform at ChatSworth
waiting. with his son, for the Inflated
train, he repeatedly saw peculiar light
upon the traCE in the neighborhood OF
where the train subsequently went down.
At first he thought it was fire, S"t from
its disappearance and reappearance at III.
tef7sls during period of three hours, he
came to the i5iCl"sion that somebody was
swinging a lantern OF that a locomotive
was moving to and fro. This was Kept up
until little while before the train was due
at Chatsw oith. and seemed to him so re-
markable that he called the attention OF
several people around him to the fact.
Hellnm's statement was corrohoratcd by
his son, who, with his father, got on
board the train and barely escaped with
their lives, and by Julius koplke, farm
er, living within quarter of mile OF the
track, who saw what seemed to be small
fire near the culvert shortly before Md
night.
i. Brown and Thomas Brown, bankers of
Chats -orth, cOrroborated the testimony OF
previous witnesses regarding the peculiar
light seen near the bridge shortly before
the accident.
Tobirski and Kobaske, two section
hands, swole that they burned all the
weeds and grass near the bridge on Friday
of last week; that on the afterno"' of the
accident thev were doing the same VOTE
forty Toas from the bridge; that they
passed over the culSHrt, and that there
was nothing burning,or any thi"g there to
burn.
Michael Kobaske. another section hand,
was next called. just as he was about to
be sworn the other Kobaske whispered into
his ear several words in Polish. The re-
suit was that the witness showed re-
tnarkable faculty for testifyirg to the
same story as told by his namesake, while
his memory showed considerable weak
ness when questioned as % the possibility
of there having been any fire at tic bridge
without his seeing it.
On cross-examination he admitted that
all three were II car near the bridge on
the fatal night. 1t was etih mt from tn,
demeanor of the iurymen that TIE f"-t'-
monv of the three Polanders was anythn.
but satisfactory.
Testimony pointing in the same drec
tion was given by several other witnesses
before the inquiry was adjourned. Thost
who hold the theory of train-wreclling be-
lieve that there was an OrganlZed
gang of thieves on board the train, and
that the bridge was destroyed by conted-
crates as the result of a well-laid plot.
In support of this theory numerous stories
of the rohbing of the dead and in jured are
being passed from mouth to mouth, but
the mouths of the dead are closed, and the
injured who are cited can not be found
either here or at Piper City. Develop
mentS in this connection, however, are
promised before the end of the present in
vestigation, and it woL.,. not be surprising
if the iury in its verdict should fix the re-
sponsiblitv for the disaster upon some
person or persons unknown, and leave the
railroad company or the county free tC
use their own discretion in following "
the matter to an end.
More people were in ChatSwOrth yester-
day than ever before in its history. Stand
ing room even on the platforms OF the in
coming trains was at premium, and two
thirds of the farmers, within a radius OF
fifteen miles, brought in their wives and
families. 1t was a sad throng. The row
Of rough pine cotiins which occupied two
thirds of the depot platform, and the cries
and groans of the injured in the impro
vised hospital few feet away had a de-
pressing effect on the visitors. Hundreds
of them went down to the scene of the
wreck and stood for hours in the hroiling
sun watching the work of clearing tine
track and rebuilding the bridge. Hun
dreds more besieged the hospital, anC
crowded into the narrow aisleS between
! the cots with such persistence that it wa,
found necessary to station guards outside
to keep them at a distance.
Inside the scenes were distressing in the
extreme. There were twenty-five patient:
equally divided as to sex. OF these Julis
Valdejo, of Peoria, suffered the creates
agony. All that medical science could dC
was done for the wealthy Peoria orphan
but without avail, and yesterday after
noon she died.